


Veracity

by Yessica



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [18]
Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, Half-Life
Genre: Character Study, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29666022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessica/pseuds/Yessica
Summary: Benrey should learn not to drink random potions he found. Gordon should learn to lock his door. (Febuwhump day 21 - Truth serum)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138808
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Veracity

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt at these characters so be merciful. Requested by Zeke!

Gordon had to stop allowing himself to be roped into these shenanigans.

He was starting to think every bad thing that had ever happened to him could be traced back and attributed to a very specific set of circumstances – or more likely a very specific set of individuals. And that meant he should know better, should not let himself get dragged along in their hijinks anymore.

Yet that was exactly where Gordon found himself time and time again.

"You're telling me Black Mesa used to put money into this crap?" The last word was accompanied by him holding up what looked to be sewer waste in a cup. The liquid was off-green in color and oddly congealed, sticking to the sides of the glass beaker when he turned it over. Possibly radiated too. "What… is this crap, exactly?"

"Truth potion," Darnold answered, unaffected and as if that was the most evident thing in the world. Of course - of fucking course - Black Mesa would be funding research into developing something Gordon was sure had to violate at least three different aspects of the Geneva conventions. Why was he not surprised?

He held the beaker upside down and the potion still didn't spill. "Does it work?"

"All Mister Darnold's potions work!" Tommy chimed in. "Just, uh, they don't... They don't all work as intended. They work in other ways sometimes."

"That's why I don't intend them to do anything," Darnold took the serum back from Gordon. "I let them surprise me."

"Sounds dangerous," Gordon said. Which was a completely useless comment, since danger meant nothing to these guys. He knew that.

As if to prove his point, Coomer turned towards them from the couch. Gordon hadn't been aware he had been following the conversation. "Danger is nothing in the face of science, Doctor Freeman!"

Gordon sighed.

"Just keep that thing as far away from me as you can manage." It really was the most he could hope for.

He should have known better.

* * *

He was woken up by his bedroom door opening in the middle of the night.

Gordon always had been a light sleeper – even before Black Mesa. He rubbed at his eyes and blinked wearily to see the solid shape of Benrey standing over his bedside, all menacing angles and dark brooding stare.

Distantly Gordon was aware that this should elicit some type of surprise in him, or maybe even outright fright. All he felt was a dull sense of impatience. Benrey was standing next to his bed because Benrey was Benrey and his actions could rarely be explained. Gordon had what felt like half a lifetime coming to terms with that. He just hoped that whatever this was about, it would be over quickly enough for him to get some more sleep.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Benrey blinked. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark, but that might be a trick of the light. The way he did it too reminded Gordon of a cat, or a predator waiting to pounce. "Yo man... I just wanted to check if you were asleep."

Barely awake enough to form the frown on his face, Gordon turned his head towards his alarm clock. Without his glasses, the numbers were blurry and unfocused, but if he squinted hard enough he could just make them out in the pitch dark of his room. "At three in the morning?"

"Yeah, when else?" Benrey plopped himself down on his bed and Gordon instinctively pulled his legs back to avoid getting sat on. Accepting the fact that this was definitely happening and there wasn't anything he could do about it, he sat up against the headboard and flicked on the light.

When no more information about the purpose of this outright invasion of his privacy was forthcoming, Gordon pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay then. Why are you here, Benrey?"

"Hm? I got... I got worried."

Not the answer Gordon was expecting. He shook his head and brushed his long hair out of his face. It always got so unruly when he slept, but he didn't have time to deal with it at the moment. Benrey wasn't looking at him, but at the curtains hanging from his window. They swayed slightly in the breeze – Gordon always kept the window slanted open when he slept. In the distance, the sound of cars on the freeway could be heard.

"Worried about what?"

"Oh, just..." Benrey trialed off. The bedroom light threw sharp shadows against the wall. "Worried you like, hate me and stuff."

"I don't hate you, Benrey. I used to, yeah. But not anymore."

The answer slipped out before Gordon could help it. In the morning he could blame his exhaustion for the undiluted honesty, but that didn't make it any less real. Something about the lighting made Benrey appear almost unguarded, fragile. His expression was as neutral as it always was but his eyes shifted to Gordon and-

Oh.

"Did you drink the fucking potion on the table, Benrey?"

"Yeah bro, new mountain dew flavor. Tasted like shit though."

If he had the mental fortitude for it, Gordon might have screamed. "Wait, that potion was congealed, how did you-"

"I used a spoon," Benrey said as if that explained everything. For all Gordon knew it did.

At the very least it explained the blown-out pupils Gordon only now noticed. Benrey blinked at him again and this time the comparison to a cat was even more apt. Gordon reached out and grabbed Benrey's elbow – either to steady himself or steady Benrey he didn't know. He didn't pull away.

"Listen to me. And frankly, I'm only saying this because you're as close to being roofied out of your mind as I will ever see you, but you have nothing to worry about. Everything that happened was... fucked up." Well, that was the understatement of the century, he still had nightmares. Gordon swallowed and Benrey just stared, tilting his head to the side a bit. "But that's over with and I'd rather just forget all about it. I don't hate you, okay? You mostly just annoy the crap out of me now."

"I'm scared everybody hates me." The way Benrey said it implied he had either not been listening to Gordon at all or was intentionally ignoring him.

"Okay that's it, you're going to bed." Gordon threw off the blankets and stretched as he got up. He could hear his back crack from how stiff he was but shouldered through it. "We'll talk about this in the morning when you're not like... this." He gestured vaguely at Benrey, who was still looking up at him with those big eyes.

It was getting kind of eerie. He really needed to talk to Darnold about leaving his potions lying around.

He had grabbed Benrey's arm in an attempt to get him up but that was a pointless endeavor when the other wasn't willing to work with him. Gordon wasn't about to win that particular tug of war. "Please? Will you please just got to bed?"

"Hmm... sure." And without much preamble, Benrey flopped down into Gordon's bed.

Gordon couldn't do much except take this development in stride. He pulled back the blanket and threw it over the person who had so rudely stolen his peaceful night from him. "Fine, why not." He was about to leave the room when Benrey catching hold of his wrist stopped him.

"You promise, right? You don't hate me?"

He had his eyes closed, curled on his side and Gordon already knew he had set himself up for a nightmare tomorrow.

"Yeah, I promise," he said.

He left to catch the rest of his sleep on the couch, and not think about what they would do come morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Come throw me some requests on [Tumblr](http://sharada-n.tumblr.com/)


End file.
